Scrapbooking...more than a hobby....and I'm not selling you anything.

I'm going to set the scene for you...... the weather channel says we might get snow Wednesday night/Thursday morning. For all of you people from Virginia, etc.....snow in Louisiana is rare, and is cause for great celebration!! Chandler, my very down to earth 12 year old...tries to calm Madison and Collin by reminding them how often the weather channel has said that..and how often we have gotten nothing. At that point, my mom jumps into the conversation and says that really, the best chances for snow are in January....and she is, so very correct. HOWEVER, I remembered that December 11th, 1997....it snowed in West Monroe. I remember that because firstly, it's my birthday...and snow on your birthday in Louisiana is EXTRA special...and secondly because my brother and sister in law were here, and they were heading out to go home that day. So, I immediately jumped up, pulled out my scrapbooks to prove it. There they were...the pics of Chandler..approach his terrible 2's very rapidly....playing in the snow....right in front of our townhouse. The same townhouse that a year or two later we affectionately named, "the mouse house"....but that story is for another day. As our bedtime routine progressed, and while I was rocking Jillian, Madison turned on her little radio to Christmas music. I muted the weather channel....just rocked Jillian, and looked at my Christmas tree. We have so many old ornaments on there..and I love it. It's not a fashionable tree at all...but it's ornaments are full of more memories than I can count. As I'm rocking, and zoning out....I realize Madison is still in the kitchen...so I tell her it's time for her to get in the bed. She tells me she has only one more page to read, and asks if she can please finish it..and then go to bed. I'm thinking to myself, "reading?? what is she reading?? and in the kitchen no less??"...but of course, I tell her that's fine, but as soon as she's done...please go straight to bed. She finishes up, and walks in the living room, and just looks at me. While I wasn't looking, she evidently had pulled out a different scrapbook...from her preschool days...and had been at the kitchen table just pouring over it. It's at this point that she says, "just looking at that book almost made me cry. All those memories, and seeing all those pictures of...(insert special friend's name here that we've lost touch with)...I just wonder where she is. And all you wrote about us...just made me remember how much I miss her." It's now at this point that I almost start to cry as I realize....all those hours and days that I spent working on my 'scrapbooks' weren't wasted....and it's way more than a hobby. They are our memory books...and I am so thankful to have them. I am determined to get back to my scrapbooking before I forget everything from the last 3 years...and yes I'm that far behind. I spend so much time on facebook....which I will absolutely admit is a great way to keep in touch with friends, and have some fun with them...but it's also a great way to get your nose into way too much, that's really not even your business. I think back to those scrapbooking days...with no blogs, no facebook, no email, etc....but I have physical copies of my memories....that will last way longer than anyone's interest in this blog, or what was said to who about what on facebook. I've got to change my focus. Tonight I learned a wonderful, softly spoken, life lesson...and maybe the Lord was whispering to me how way off my focus has become...